Roots Archives Forum

gbougard wrote:Bellyman wrote :swaby974 wrote :"Back To Roots" lp from 1982 was produced by a french.
I didn't know if it was released in others countries(before Tabou1).

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These are exactly the same, and I doubt the recordings were produced by the french guys who are mentioned on the european release 'Back to Roots'. Maybe they put up some money (and herb) to get the permission to release this album outside USA and JA.

Kackie Knafo is the French guy who produced the album. By producing one means pay for the sessions. Jackie had a concert promotion business in Paris and organized the first Burning Spear concerts in France, had the Gladiators at his place for a month because they had been dumped by an unscrupulous tour promoter.

He then went to JA with them and recorded the Back to roots album.

Prior to that period, during the Virgin albums, the Gladiators were managed by Prince Tony Robinson, who stole the tapes and released the album under a different name and a different song sequence on his own label. Typical Tony.

I met Jackie and he let me release Back to roots. Cool guy. He had bought a sex shop in the red light district of Paris Pigalle and everytime a Jamaican artist friend of his would visit town, they made sure to come check him at his store!!!

I also met Tony in Miami in the late 90's. He wanted to license some material for which he had no rights. Nice guy but...

Mighty M wrote:top songs:Serious thing,Naturality

MatejkoFarI wrote:I don't know. I first heard their debut album and immediatelly fell in love with it. The riddims were heavy, the vocal harmonies were perfect, really liked the message. It still is one of my fauvorite reggae LP's. But then I heard proverbial reggae and other followups and was very dissapointed. I didn't like them at all. So, for me, just their first LP, averything rest - sorry, not for me.

gbougard wrote:I recall that the Gladiators LP was first released as "Babylon Street" on Jam Rock Records (or TR International) - it appeared on the Sounds reggae charts on January 16, 1982 - and only later in 1982 as "Back To Roots" on L´Escargot France / Stunt Sounds UK. Can you confirm this?

Back to roots came out before in France. Stunt had a licence.

And when/where were the bonus live tracks on the Tabou1 CD recorded?

82 in Amsterdam. i saw these concerts and was with the group the whole time they were in Paris. Awesome. It was at Mutualite.

Afterthought:
This makes me wonder if the Jam Rock LP "Reggae To Bone" also was released without the group´s permission...
Or did they really re-unite with Tony in 1982/83?

Their relationsip with TR is a complex one...

gbougard wrote: Afterthought:
This makes me wonder if the Jam Rock LP "Reggae To Bone" also was released without the group´s permission...
Or did they really re-unite with Tony in 1982/83?

Their relationsip with TR is a complex one...

So, to clarify, was "Back To Roots" on L´Escargot released in 1981 before "Babylon Street"